The present invention relates to a tocotrienol-containing powder which is excellent in storage stability and flowability, to a process for preparing a tocotrienol-containing powder efficiently without accompanying adhesion of it to the wall of a spray-drier in the case where its preparation is accomplished by a spray-drying method, and to a tablet comprising said powder compressed into a tablet form.
Tocotrienol which is present in vegetable oils such as coconut oil, palm oil, rice bran oil, soybean oil and the like have been extracted and concentrated by various methods. Tocotrienol resulted from the extract of these natural materials is a mixture of plural tocotrienols.
Recently, usefulness of tocotrienol in a wide variety of fields has been studied and many examples have been reported of utilization having made in the fields of drugs, foods, cosmetics and resin composition. That is, specific utilization examples in these fields have been reported as shown below.
In the field of drugs; antisterility drug for animal, therapeutic drug for oxygen disorder (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 58-96021), antitumor drug (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 61-210030, therapeutic drug for hypercholesterolemia, lipemia and thrombosis (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 3-246222), therapeutic drug for immunity accommodation disease, inflammation, pyrexia, edema, diabetes mellitus, pain etc. (Japanese International Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 7-504887), a vital aging inhibitory agent and antioxidant for composition for skin use (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 8-176005), eye drops and delayed and therapeutic drug for cataract (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 9-157165), poultice having blood-flow promotion action (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 9-208460).
In the field of foods; nutrition food (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 58-99475), antioxidant for food, use for preventing quality deterioration of food or feed by oxidation (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 9-9939).
In the field of cosmetics; additive for cosmetics (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 58-99475), a hair tonic (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. Hei 8-12532 and Hei 9-157136), a deodorant and dental composition (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 8-92050), skin whitening agent for external use (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 8-92062), a repressing and removing agent for bad breath (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 10-182388).
In the field of resin composition; an antioxidant for a polysaturated compound (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 6-57247), a heat and oxidation-stabilized olefinic polymer composition wherein ascorbic acid and tocotrienols are incorporated (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 8-41252)
As tocotrienols have 3 double bonds in the intramolecular side chain and are colorless to yellow, clear and oily materials, they have disadvantages that they are more sensitive to air and light than vitamin E (tocopherol) and further that blending and metering procedures with other solid substances and handling are inconvenient. Therefore, there has been a need for the development of solid or powdery tocotrienol having good storage stability.
If the hitherto proposed process for preparing powdery fat-soluble vitamins is illustrated with an example of the representative vitamin E preparation, it has been conducted by a process wherein vitamin E (or vitamin E-containing oil) is emulsified with a wide variety of emusifying agents, proteins etc., followed by the addition of an excipient, and the resultant emulsion composition is subjected to spray-drying. It has also been prepared by a process wherein vitamin E and an emulsifying agent are added to an excipient and the resultant emulsion is sprayed while granulation and drying are simultaneously accomplished. It has further been conducted by mixing vitamin E (or vitamin E-containing oil) with a carrier. More specifically, {circle around (1)} Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 1-52367 discloses a process for preparing vitamin E-containing powdery saccharide wherein vitamin E and a forming agent are added to a concentrated solution of a saccharide heated to 125-165xc2x0 C., which is foamed by stirring, and then the solution is cooled so that the saccharide is precipitated and water in the solution is evaporated simultaneously. {circle around (2)} Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 48-22613 discloses a process for preparing powdery vitamin E containing about 40-60% by weight of a vitamin E active compound and about 60-40% by weight of a gelatin hydrolyzate having a molecular weight of about 9,000- about 11,000 wherein an aqueous emulsion containing the vitamin E active compound, 0 Bloom and the gelatin hydrolyzate is subjected to spray-drying. {circle around (3)} Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 60-64919 discloses a process for preparing powdery or granular vitamin E preparation wherein vitamin E is emulsified or solubilized in an aqueous phase in the presence of a saponin, an excipient is added thereto and dissolved in the resultant solution or solubilized product, which is subjected to spray-drying. {circle around (4)} Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 8-143456 discloses a process for preparing powdery oil soluble vitamins wherein a lipid containing fat-soluble vitamins is homogeneously dispersed in a solution of an excipient containing a defatted soybean as an effective ingredient, the dispersion is mechanically emulsified, and then the resultant emulsion is subjected to a spray- or freeze-drying. Also, {circle around (5)} Japanese Patent No.2626975 discloses a process for preparing a granule containing a vitamin E-related substance wherein the vitamin E-related substance is blended with more than 30% by weight of calcium silicate as an absorbent.
However, the above mentioned {circle around (1)} process involves the complicated procedure that the saccharide is precipitated, evaporating water simultaneously and causes a problem of coloration in the product. In the case where the process is conducted on a continuous and large scale, it is difficult to obtain a powder wherein vitamin E is homogeneously dispersed. The processes {circle around (2)} and {circle around (3)} as stated above, cannot yield any powders having a good formability and sufficient flowability. In the {circle around (4)} process wherein a defatted soybean is used as the excipient, the size of the powder obtained is uneven and coarse and hence its usefulness is inevitably limited. Also, the {circle around (5)} process wherein powdery calcium silicate and vitamin E are merely blended has a problem that it takes a certain time until the mixture becomes homogeneous.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a tocotrienol-containing powder which has an excellent storage stability and a good flowability.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a process for preparing efficiently a tocotrienol-containing powder having a free flowability causing no adhesion of the powder to the wall of a spray-drier during its preparation step based on spray drying.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a tablet comprising said tocotrienol-containing powder compressed into a tablet form.
In order to achieve the above objectives, the present inventors attempted previously to make tocotrienol-containing oil consisting of a mixture of plural tocotrienols resulted from the extract of the natural materials (hereinafter, referred to as tocotrienol-containing oil) powdery by application of the hitherto known process for preparing a powdery vitamin E. However, the desired powdery product could not be obtained. Even in the case where powdery product was obtained, in most cases it was difficult to recover the powdery product in a good yield from the spray chamber due to its adhesion to the wall of the spray-drier. Thus there could not be obtained any powder having a good formability, storage stability and flowability. This is considered to be mainly due to a great difficulty of obtaining pure tocotrienol on an industrial scale. Synthetic tocopherols such as vitamin E are available in the form of a substantially pure material as a raw material for preparation of powdery product. Contrary thereto, tocotrienol has not yet been commercially available in large amount as pure material. In fact, tocotrienol-containing oil extracted and concentrated from vegetable oils such as palm oil and rice bran oil has generally been used. Tocotrienols are different from tocopherols in the molecular structure, only in the presence of three double bonds in the isoprenoid side chain, and are more susceptible to undergo decomposition and change in quality under the influence of heat, light, oxygen etc. than tocopherols. For this reason, it is difficult to obtain pure tocotrienols on an industrial scale. Usually, tocotrienols are sold at the marketplace as a mixture of xcex1, xcex2, xcex3, xcex4-tocotrienol mixture (hereinafter, referred to as xe2x80x9ctotal tocotrienolxe2x80x9d), xcex1, xcex2, xcex3, xcex4-tocophenol mixture (hereinafter, referred to as the total tocopherol) and other contaminating oil component derived from the raw material. For example, the tocotrienol product (a trade name of xe2x80x9cNuTriene tocotrienolxe2x80x9d) of Eastman Chemical Company is a mixture comprising more than 16% of the total tocotrienol (8-10% xcex1-tocotrienol and 8-10% xcex3-tocotrienol), 13-15% of the total tocopherol (xcex1-tocopherol) and 2-4% of other tocopherol and tocotrienol, and thus the combined content of the total tocotrienol and tocopherol being 30% or more. The molecular structure of tocotrienol and behavior of the contaminating oil components derived from the raw material are considered to adversely affect the stability of an emulsion.
As a result of having further ardently studied to achieve the foregoing objectives, the present inventors have found that there may be obtained tocotrienol-containing powder having a free flowability preventing its adhesion to the wall of a spray-drier by a process which comprises treating an oil containing a tocotrienol with a lecithin, a cellulose and an emulsifying agent in water to form an emulsion, mixing the formed emulsion with a powder substance as an oil absorbent to form a suspension and spray-drying the formed suspension, and that the obtained tocotrienol-containing powder may be compressed with the conventional tablet machine to give a tablet having an adequate hardness. The present invention has been made based on these findings.
The tocotrienol-containing powder in the present invention comprises 0.1-3.0% by weight of a lecithin, 0.1-10% by weight of a cellulose, 0.1-30% by weight of an emulsifying agent, 0.1-75% by weight, preferably 5-75% by weight, more preferably 7.5-75% by weight, the most preferably 30-75% by weight of tocotrienol and 0.1-99% by weight of a powder substance as an oil absorbent.
Furthermore, the process for preparing the tocotrienol-containing powder is characterized by the steps comprising: dissolving or suspending a lecithin, a cellulose and an emulsifying agent in water, adding an oil containing a tocotrienol to the solution or suspension under stirring to form an emulsion, adding an powder substance as an oil absorbent with the formed emulsion to form a suspension and, spray-drying the formed suspension.
The following illustrates the present invention in more details.
The present invention relates to the tocotrienol-containing powder having a good storage stability and flowability which may be prepared by a process which comprises dissolving or suspending in water (a) a lecithin, (b) a cellulose such as hydroxypropylmethylcellulose, methylcellulose, hydroxypropylcellulose, carmellose sodium or the like, and (c) an emulsifying agent such as gelatin, casein sodium, arabic gum, sodium alginate, modified starch or the like, adding (d) an oil containing a tocotrienol to the solution or suspension under a stirring to form an emulsion, adding (e) a powder substance as an oil absorbent to the formed emulsion under stirring to form a suspension and thereafter spray-drying the formed suspension.
In considering that the tocotrienol-containing powder involved in the present invention is free flowing, said powder may be prepared efficiently without causing its adhesion to the wall of a spray-drier during spray-drying.
Moreover, the tocotrienol-containing powder of the present invention has a feature that any oil components contained in it do not migrate into its surface on storage. It has a good compressibility to give a compressed mold article causing no sticking or bleeding out of the oil components when compressed to form a tablet as it is or according to the conventional manner.
As to the tocotrienol-containing powder which may be obtained in the present invention, since the surface of oil component is coated with a powder substance absorbent etc., tocotrienol present therein not only do not undergo decomposition or change in quality under the influence of heat, light etc. after spray drying, but also do not migrate to the surface of the powder even on storage for a long period of time so that it has a good storage stability and formability.
The terms xe2x80x9coil containing tocotrienolxe2x80x9d mean one containing one or more of tocotrienols such as xcex1-, xcex2-, xcex3- and xcex4-tocotrienols as main component.
The tocotrienol as defined above may be either synthetic or naturally occurring ones. Also, they may be d-, 1- or d1-type of isomers, and the composition ratio of isomers is not limited particularly. Specific examples of tocotrienol include xcex1-tocotrienol such as 3,4-dihydro-2,5,7,8-tetramethyl-2-{(E,E)-4,8,12-trimethyl-3,7,11-tridecatrienyl}-2H-1-benzopyran-6-ol[synonyms: (+xe2x88x92)-xcex1-tocotrienol]3,4-dihydro-2,5,7,8-tetramethyl-2-{R(E,E)-4,8,12-trimethyl-3,7,11-tridecatrienyl}-2H-1-benzopyran-6-ol[synonyms: (R)-xcex1-tocotrienol],3,4-dihydro-2,5,7,8-tetramethyl-2-(4,8,12-trimethyl-3,7,11-tridecatrienyl)-2H-1-benzopyran-6-ol)(synonyms: xcex1-tocotrienol) and the like; xcex2-tocotrienol such as 3,4-dihydro-2,5,8-trimethyl-2-{(E,E)4,8,12-trimethyl-3,7,11-tridecatrienyl}-2H-benzopyran-6-ol(synonyms: xcex2-tocotrienol) and the like; xcex3-tocotrienol such as 5-{3,4-dihydro-2,7,8-trimethyl-2-(4,8,12-trimethyl-3,7,11-tridecatrienyl)-2H-1-benzopyran-6-ol(xcex3-tocotrienol),3,3xe2x80x2,4,4xe2x80x2tetrahydroxy-2,2xe2x80x2,7,7xe2x80x2,8,8xe2x80x2-hexamethyl-2,2-bis(4,8,12-trimethyl 3,7,11-tridecatrienyl)-(5,5xe2x80x2-bi-2H-1-benzopyran-6,6xe2x80x2-diol(synonyms: xcex3-tocotrienol),3,4-dihydro-2,7,8-trimethyl-2-{(3E,7E)-4,8,12-trimethyl-3,7,11-tridecatrienyl}-2H-1-benzopyran-6-ol(synonyms: xcex3-tocotrienol) and the like; and xcex4-tocotrienol such as 3,4-dihydro-2,8-dimethyl-2-{[(3E,7E)4,8,12-trimethyl-3,7,11-tridecatrienyl}-2H-1-benzopyran-6-ol(synonyms: xcex4-tocotrienol),2-(3-hydroxy-3,7,11,15-tetramethyl-6,10,14-hexadecatrienyl)-6-methyl-2,5-cyclohexadiene-1,4-dione(synonyms: xcex4-tocotrienol and the like.
The total tocotrienol content in the oil containing tocotrienol in the present invention may be usually 10-80% by weight, preferably 25-75% by weight, more preferably 50-75% by weight.
Also, the foregoing oil containing tocotrienol may be contain one or more of xcex1-, xcex2-, xcex3- and xcex4-tocotrienols derived from the raw material for preparing tocotrienol. As such oil containing tocotrienol, there may be preferably used commercially available products, for example, xe2x80x9cNuTriene tocotrienolxe2x80x9d (30% content, a trade name, a product of Eastman Chemical Company), xe2x80x9cOryzatocotrienolxe2x80x9d (a trade name, a product of Oryza Oil and Fat Chemical Co., Ltd.), xe2x80x9cTocotrienol oilxe2x80x9d (70% content, a product of Golden Hope Plantations Berhad), and xe2x80x9cTocotrienol oilxe2x80x9d (30% content, 50% content, a product of Carotech Sdn Bhd.).
It is preferable that the ratio of tocotrienol content to tocopherol content in the oil containing tocotrienol is more than 1, (tocotrienol/tocopherol= greater than 1 when expressed in ratio by weight).
Also, there may be included therein nicotinic, acetic or succinic ester of tocotrienol.
Although the content of tocotrienol in the finished powder product is not limited particularly, it may be in the range of 0.1-75% by weight, preferably 5-75% by weight, more preferably 7.5-75% by weight, the most preferably 30-75% by weight depending on the intended use. According to the present invention, even in case where it is more than 30% by weight and the maximum of 75% by weight, the desired spray-dried powder having a good storage stability and flowability can be obtained by formulating a composition comprising 30-75% by weight of oil containing tocotrienol, 0.5-3% by weight of lecithin, 1-10% by weight of cellulose, 10-30% by weight of an emulsifying agent and 10-50% by weight of a powder substance.
As lecithin which may be used in the present invention, it is phosphatidyl choline used conventionally. Examples of lecithin include vegetable lecithin, fractionated lecithin, yolk lecithin, enzyme-treated lecithin, enzyme-decomposed lecithin and the like. These lecithines may be either paste or powdery form. However, it is preferable to use lecithin which is a liquid at the ordinary temperature since it is more emulsifiable in water than the powder.
Examples of the commercial product include soyabean lecithin (a product of Wako Pure Chemical Industries, Ltd.), xe2x80x9cSLP Pastexe2x80x9d (a product of True Lecithin Industry Co., Ltd.), xe2x80x9cBenecoat BMI-40xe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cBenecoat BMI-40Lxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cBenecoat BMI-60xe2x80x9d (products of Kao Corporation) and the like.
The amount used of lecithin may be varied depending on the kind and amount of the oil containing tocotrienol used, the kind of emulsifying agent used and the concentration of a suspension to be spray-dried, thus should not be limited particularly. However, it may be usually 0.1-3% by weight, preferably 0.5-3% by weight, more preferably 0.5-2.5% by weight based on the weight of the powder composition to be fed.
If the amount used of lecithin is less than 0.1% by weight, then there can be obtained tocotrienol-containing powder. But, it does not become spherical in shape, and has a stickiness so that oil present therein bleeds out. On the other hand, if the amount used of lecithin exceeds 3% by weight, then there can be obtained undesirable sticky spray-dried powder. And therefore, it is necessary to use lecithin in a amount within the limited range as shown above.
Thus, it is an outstanding feature of the present invention that the characteristic property of the spray-dried powder is greatly influenced by adding lecithin in an amount as little as 0.1-3% by weight.
As an emulsifying agent, gelatin, casein sodium, arabic gum, sodium alginate, modified starch or mixture thereof may be preferably used from the standpoint of safety and powdering being easily accomplished. However, gelatin is particularly preferred. In addition to these emulsifying agents, there may also be employed adequately depending on the intended use of the tocotrienol-containing powder a nonionic surfactant, an anionic surfactant, a cationic surfactant(e.g. polyoxyalkylene adduct of a higher alcohol, polyoxyalkylene fatty acid ester, polyoxyalkylene glycol adduct of higher amine, polyoxyalkylene glycol adduct of polyhydric alcohol, metal salt of higher fatty acid, sodium higher alcohol sulfate, sodium higher alcohol phosphate, aliphatic quaternary ammonium salt such as polyoxyethylene lauryl dimethylammonium chloride) which are generally used in preparing an aqueous emulsion. The amount used of the emulsifying agent may be varied depending on the kind and amount of the oil containing tocotrienols used, the kind of emulsifying agent used, the concentration of a suspension to be spray-dried, thus should not be limited particularly. However, it may be usually 0.1-50% by weight, preferably 0.5-30% by weight, based on the weight of the oil containing tocotrienol used.
A cellulose is one which acts as emulsifying auxiliary material and the use of it with lecithin causes not only increasing effect of stability of emulsion but also imparting effect of non-stickiness into the spray-dried powder product. As the cellulose, it may be any of a water-soluble, water-insoluble, water-partially soluble and water-swellable ones. Examples of a water soluble cellulose include carmellose sodium (a product of Daicel Co., Ltd., a trade name of xe2x80x9cCMC Daicelxe2x80x9d), methylcellulose, hydroxypropylcellulose (e.g. a trade name xe2x80x9cNisso HPCxe2x80x9d, a product of Nippon Soda Co., Ltd., a trade name xe2x80x9cShin-Etsu HPCxe2x80x9d, a product of Shin-Etsu Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.), hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (e.g. trade names xe2x80x9cHPMC -2208, -2906, -2910xe2x80x9d, products Shin-Etsu Chemical Industry Co., Ltd., a trade name xe2x80x9cMetlose 90SH, 65SH, 60SHxe2x80x9d, products of Shin-Etsu Chemical Industry Co., Ltd., trade names xe2x80x9cMethocel K. F. Exe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cMarpolosexe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cTC-5xe2x80x9d, products of Dow Chemical Co., Ltd.)xe2x80x9d, hydroxyethylcellulose and the like. Examples of water-insoluble, water-partially soluble or water-swellable cellulose include crystalline cellulose, crystalline cellulose sodium carmellose, ethylcellulose, low-substituted hydroxypropylcellulose hydroxypropy methylcellulose phthalate, hydroxypropyl-methylcellulose acetate succinate, carmellose, carmellose calcium, cross carmellose sodium, carboxydimethyl-ethylcellulose, cellulose acetate phthalate and the like.
The celluloses which may be used preferably in the present invention are carmellose sodium, methylcellulose, hydroxypropylcellulose and hydroxypropylmethylcellulose. Among them, carmellose sodium is more preferable from the standpoint that it shows a high tendency to give spherical powder particles.
Although the amount used of cellulose may be varied depending on the kind and amount of emulsifying agent to be used, it may be generally 0.1-20% by weight, preferably 0.1-10% by weight, based on the total weight of powder composition to be fed.
In case where an emulsion is prepared by emulsifying an oil containing tocotrienol with a lecithin, a cellulose and an emulsifying agent in water, the concentration of the emulsion may be 35-45% from the standpoint of emulsification treatment (workability). Otherwise, a water-soluble cellulose and an emulsifying agent are dissolved in water, and then the solution may be combined with a separately prepared mixture of an oil containing tocotrienol and a lecithin for emulsifying treatment.
The condition under which an emulsification treatment is conducted may be varied depending on the kind and the composition ratio of an oil containing tocotrienol to be used and hence it is not limited particularly. However, the emulsification treatment may be usually conducted at room temperature. If necessary, it may be conducted at an adequately elevated temperature.
A stable emulsion may also be prepared by the following method.
That is, an emulsification treatment is accomplished in two steps dividing the total amount of water contained in the suspension to be spray-dried into 2 times, instead of adding it at one stroke.
An emulsifying agent such as gelatin, casein sodium, arabic gum, sodium alginate or the like and a cellulose such as carmellose sodium, hydroxypropylmethylcellulose or the like are dissolved in warm water (at 30-80xc2x0 C.) whose amount being 1/3-1/2 of the predetermined total amount of water for preparation of a suspension, the solution is mixed with a mixture prepared separately by adding lecithin to an oil containing tocotrienol and the stirring is operated for the preliminary emulsification treatment, after which residual amount of warm water is added and a stirring is operated to allow the emulsification treatment to complete thereby there can be obtained a homogeneous and stable emulsion. The amount added of warm water for the second emulsification treatment is 1-3 times, preferably 2-2.5 times of that used in the first or preliminary emulsification treatment.
If an emulsion having the prescribed concentration has been prepared, then subsequently a powder substance as oil absorbent is added thereto and mixed together, and the resultant suspension is subjected to spray drying.
The powder substance is a carrier which is capable of adhering or absorbing an oil containing tocotrienol. Examples of such powders include inorganic ones such as calcium silicate, soft silicic anhydride, magnesium alumino metasilicate, calcium hydrogen phosphate and the like, and organic ones such as dextrin and the like. The preferred powder is calcium silicate (a specific calcium silicate porous powder, a trade name xe2x80x9cFloritexe2x80x9d, a product of Tokuyama Soda Co., Ltd.). It is a porous powder having an apparent specific gravity of 10-11 ml/g, a liquid absorption amount of 5-6 ml/g and an excellent compressibility.
The amount used of the powder substance as absorbent may be varied depending on the amount of an oil containing tocotrienol to be used, the amounts of a lecithin and a cellulose to be incorporated, thus it is not limited particularly.
However, it may be 0.1-99% by weight per weight of the tocotrienol-containing powder to be formed.
In preparing the tocotrienol-containing powder, lactose may be further added as solubilizing auxiliary material in addition to the foregoing constituent ingredients.
As to the concentration of a suspension (the second emulsion) to be spray-dried, typically 8-15% by weight is preferable. This suspension gives a stable emulsion by mere stirring procedure so that any phase separation does not occur even on standing for 3 days at a temperature of 50xc2x0 C.
The temperature at which spray drying is conducted may be varied depending on the drying condition, raw materials to be used and the type of spray-drier to be used, thus it is not limited particularly. In case of, for example, a spray drier (atomizer type), generally spray-drying may be conducted at an inlet temperature ranging from about 210xc2x0 C. to about 250xc2x0 C. and an outlet temperature ranging from about 90xc2x0 C. to about 120xc2x0 C. according to the conventional method.
Also, the suspension (the second emulsion) to be spray-dried may be subjected to spray-drying and granulation or to freeze-drying and hot air drying placing the freeze-dried material on the fluidized bed for preparing granular product.
The thus obtained spray-dried powder may be compressed into a tablet form according to the conventional method. As shown in Examples described later, if it compressed under a compression pressure of 100-750 kgf/cm2, there may be obtained tablets each having a constant range of hardness without influence of compression pressure.
In preparing industrially tablets using the tocotrienol-containing powder obtained in the present process, there may be employed a lubricant which has been generally known and hitherto used, for example, stearic acid, magnesium stearate, calcium stearate, sugar fatty acid ester, polyethylene glycol, hydrogenized oil, paraffin wax, talc or the like. In a continuous production of tablet containing such a highly concentrated oil component as 40% by weight or more of tocotrienols using, for example, a rotary tablet machine, in some cases there is recognized adhesion of said spray-dried powder to a pounder and a mortar phenomenon caused by occurrence of a membrane of oil components which have migrated into the surface of a turntable. As effective lubricants for preventing these defects, for example one or more of higher fatty acids having 12-24 carbon atoms such as stearic acid, palmitic acid, oleic acid and the like may be used. Among them, especially stearic acid or higher fatty acid wherein the content of stearic acid is high is preferred. In this case, the amount used of higher fatty acid may be 0.2-10%, preferably 1-5% per tablet weight. As to tablet pressure to be applied, it may be 200-1000 kg, preferably 300-500 kg.
Also, a wide variety of drugs may be incorporated into the tocotrienol-containing powder for the purpose of preparing a tablet by a compression molding. Any drugs may be used without particular limitation so long as they are inert to the tocotrienol-containing powder.